The hotel surrounded by The Links Golf Course and next to the Ruidoso Convention Center was acquired by the MCM Family of Hotels, according to Ruidoso Village Manager Debi Lee. MCM operates seven hotels, including properties in Dallas, Odessa and Abilene, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Colorado Springs, Colo.

The news came as no surprise to village officials, who have been working with MCM officials for months to iron out details surrounding several agreements with the previous owners, Leisure Hotels and R.D. Hubbard. As far back as August, Lee had a dinner conversation about the sale with Texas investor John Bushman, MCM president, whose anniversary is the same day as Lee's.

The hotel’s new name will be the MCM Elegante Lodge & Suites, according to a report. Lee said Tuesday the current staff likely will stay on-board.

"He officially closed on the last day of the year," Lee said. "He met with the staff of the hotel yesterday. My understanding is they are keeping the same staff currently there."

The firm is "very sound financially," and Bushman owns some radio stations, as well, Lee said. "We're very much looking forward to being a partner with them. We enjoyed our relationship with the previous owners, but now that they have sold, we are delighted to work in concert with the new owners."

The hotel will undergo renovations, starting with new Simmons Beautyrest pillow-top mattresses, according to a report. Already a favorite stop for visitors with a hot breakfast to rival local restaurants, guest accommodations include private balconies, in-room fireplaces, kitchenettes, two-person whirlpool tubs and views of the golf green and Sierra Blanca Mountain. Other amenities include an indoor pool and Jacuzzi, onsite massage therapist, a workout room, an open-air patio and guest grills. The hotel sits next to public tennis courts, a youth playground, soccer fields.

Working out all of the details involving the village took months, Lee said.

"It was before my time, but there were numerous agreements and assignments and amendments, and we got an outside attorney to give us an in-depth legal opinion about all of that to ensure our current sitting council was comfortable with making those assignments," she said.

The council met in closed session Sept. 15, to discuss the legal opinion, came out to the open session and approved all of the assignments to the agreements associated with Hotel Ruidoso, also known as The Lodge. Councilors met one more time in closed session, because the attorney's buyer wanted the council to ratify the September decision, she said.

"It was very complicated, because there were so many agreements assigned to it," she said. "I think everybody wanted to be absolutely comfortable with all the terms and conditions. We had another vote on Dec. 22, after another closed session."

"One of the issues we couldn't assign was the marketing agreement," Lee said, based on an opinion by an auditor during that period before she was hired. To be in compliance with the state procurement code, a request for proposals was issued, and Steve Tally/The Lodge was the only respondent. The council approved the marketing award at its Dec. 8 meeting.

"I think Mr. Bushman assumed the marketing automatically would be assigned, but I am getting a legal opinion on that," Lee said. "I want it to be clean. The award was to The Lodge. We could go out for another RPF or execute a small professional services agreement. That's my question. Legally, can we do that under the existing RFP or do we have to do a new RFP."